Recital Preservation: before they fade away. DIGITAL FRONTIERS September 2016 Houston, Texas

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1 Recital Preservation: before they fade away DIGITAL FRONTIERS September 2016 Houston, Texas

2 Shepherd School of Music Formally opened in 1975 Currently over 300 faculty and students Thousands of performances recorded and collected in multiple formats over the years

3 History Earliest recordings ( ) of performances were reel-to-reel format Deemed at high risk of deterioration, Fondren Library and the Shepherd School of Music collaborated to place digitized performances from reel-to-reel format in the institutional repository in 2006 Programs from Shepherd School performances are digitized and online in the institutional repository The archive receives about 30 views a month from the US and overseas Patrons include Rice University alumni, former faculty, and music students from other institutions

4 Performances in IR

5 Preservation Issues Library holdings of Shepherd School audio cassette tapes ( ) are becoming at-risk (reasonable useful life = 20 years) Digitization will improve access and discovery (cassettes are not circulating) Pilot project focusing on a single year to determine feasibility of digitizing the larger collection, including estimating needs

6 Pilot project work plan Compile inventory of cassettes to be digitized for one calendar year Document copyright concerns and address possible scenarios Test and refine digitization workflows Determine file storage needs for master and access files Timeline: summer 2016 Funding for the pilot project: $0; utilize existing: Storage infrastructure Staff Equipment

7 Copyright challenges Current practice is to require students to sign a release form for performances; this practice was not in use for the performances in the project years Performances were conducted for academic purposes; there is no commercial use Rice University pays blanket license fees for copyrighted music to BMI and Ascap Low risk of copyright issues for cassette performances since scope is limited to 1980 s-2002 Rice University legal counsel advised that placing legacy recordings online should not require special licensing or permissions If a complaint occurs the policy is for the performance to be taken down

8 Inventory for pilot year 1990 Subject Specialists: Music Librarian, primary liaison to Shepherd School of Music Music Cataloger Physically count the tapes for the calendar year Compare to the list of the print program collection Check physical condition of tape Capture: Call number Tape Type Tape Length Sound Type Condition Performances of special interest

9 Digital Curation Lab Mac Pro workstation set up for cassette digitization by Fondren IT (includes storage for project) Cassette tape decks from Digital Media Commons

10 Requirements Audacity software Key is that we are capturing cassettes Master: WAV format, 16 bit/ 44.1 khz (cassette tapes typically do not store higher than CD quality audio) Access: MP3, delivery via streaming server at 320 kbps

11 Audio digitization workflow & training Metadata Coordinator prepared workflow and trained team; bulk of the reformatting done by: Archivist Access Services staff Use Audacity to digitize performances Monitor volume to avoid clipping Remove silence between tape sides Normalize audio to -0.5 db Perform spot checks of audio at 15 minute intervals

12 Workflow Remove the write protection tabs on the tapes Match each tape to (label title) to performance program (PDF) For any tape without a corresponding performance program (PDF), enter descriptive metadata into worksheet Do NOT use DOLBY noise reduction (NR) functions Make sure tape is rewound to beginning of side A Determine a reasonable audio level prior to digitization While tape is digitizing confirm performance metadata in tracking spreadsheet (compare to online program PDF)

13 Embedded metadata based on FADGI WAV files (BEXT & INFO-CHUNK) Description File Originator Creation Date Digitization History Artist Copyright Genre Medium Name Subject Software MP3 files Title Creator Date Genre Copyright note

14 Metadata (IR) Metadata for sound recordings dc.title dc.date dc.contributor.performer dc.contributor.composer dc.description.abstract (playlist) dc.digitization.specifications dc.format.digitalorigin dc.format.extent dc.type.dcmi dc.type.genre dc.subject (specific to Shepherd School performances) Graduate recital Undergraduate recital Undergraduate and graduate recital Guest artist recital Guest artist lecture Graduate lecture-recital Faculty lecture-recital Faculty recital Children concerts Ensemble

15 Storage Access files (MP3s) can be stored in the public-online repository (backed up by robust local systems) Master WAV files in offline storage /cloud storage to be determined

16 Project status and remaining steps 161 known performances in performances with audio cassettes Digitization completed WAV master files: 45 GB 71.3 hours playing time Batch processing final QC review and MP3s Ingest audio files into institutional repository Storage of cassette tapes Recommendations for larger collection

17 Intellectual control Current catalog record for each performance Location of physical cassettes to change from access services to archives Missing tapes identified during project Deaccession of cassette tapes?

18 Final Goals for Project Immediate goal: to work through the backlog of performances on cassettes Digitization of remaining cassette performances through 2002 Determine treatment of cassettes once the performances are digitized Evaluation of long-term storage options for master WAV files Additional goal: planning for preservation and providing online access to 344 performances on CDs (2002-?) Consider methods of making interactive playlists in IR Student worker with music background to enrich metadata with LOC composer names

19 Project Team Mary Brower: Music Reference Librarian Scott Carlson: Metadata Coordinator Keith Chapman: Music Cataloger Arnold Chee: Fondren IT Dara Flinn: Archivist/Special Collections Librarian Amanda Focke: Assistant Head, Special Collections and Archives Sue Garrison: Access Services Manager Ying Jin: Application Programmer Monica Rivero: Digital Curation Coordinator Access Services Staff: Michael Chiles Kevin Rivas DaVian Smith Heidi Vieira Andrew Vieira

20 Thank you! Dara Flinn, CA, DAS Archivist/Special Collections Librarian Woodson Research Center